At the Movies with Fatwayne

Drag me to hell while I jump and laugh all the way! This movie is both funny and scary and it proves my point that it doesn’t have to be gory to succeed as a horror movie. Yes there are the usual movie stunts designed to make us jump like the cat (poor kitty!) ,the loud noises and sudden scene changes. Director Sam Rami (Spider Man, Evil Dead) delivers these scares with a PG13 rating! He also delivers some very good laughs although it is mostly gross out humor.

One of the memorable and creative scenes has our cursed heroine (Christine) sleeping and a fly lands on her face. The disgusting creature then lands on the camera lens and gives us an up close look at all of its creepy parts. It than goes back to Christine’s face and walks around. The filthy fly goes into one nostril and comes out of the other! It then forces its way between her lips and disappears into her mouth! Yuk!

Another scene which lingers in my mind has Christine in a physical battle with the old gypsy, Mrs. Ganush. You need to know that this is one disgusting hag with some kind of green drool coming forth after each of her lung bruising coughs. During the fight the gypsy’s false teeth are knocked out (green drool and all). Mrs. Ganush manages to gum Christine’s face and clamp her dreadful maw onto Christine’s open mouth and lower jaw! Can you guess where all of that green goo went? I just about spewed my already eaten hotdog and popcorn!

Speaking of Mrs Ganush, she is portrayed by Lorna Raver who has a very distinguished film career and looks nothing like this nightmarish gypsy. Just goes to show you what a good actor and makeup artist can accomplish.

Do you recall the 1996 movie “Thinner” based on the Stephen King novel? This movie reminded me of that earlier film since both central characters are cursed by a gypsy. In this one, banker Christine Brown is forced to decline an old gypsy’s (Mrs Ganush) request for leniency with a third extension on her mortgage. This causes Ganush to beg and is so doing, she grabs Christine’s hemline which scares her. Christine calls for security which further humiliates Ganuch. Later that afternoon Christine gets into her car only to find the hoary old woman in her back seat. The physical battle I alluded to earlier ensues. Ganush curses Christine by summoning one of the darkest spirits called the Lamia who will torment her for three days before taking her soul and “dragging her to hell”. Pretty dismal fate, huh?

The rest of the movie follows Christine as she desperately searches for a way to free herself from this curse. There are fortune tellers, seances and channelers. The Lamia itself is a fearsome and very powerful goat like spirit who is the epitome of evil. I guess one would suspect that considering where he resides! The final question becomes whether the Lamia will be successful in dragging Christine to hell to meet his mom and dad?!

I have lots of good quotes posted for your viewing pleasure at the usual site as follows:  http://www.tvmoviequotes.com/dragmetohell.htm

Rating  – PG13 -

Fatwayne’s rating  –  -